


A Ritual of Revenge

by Willowflower_Waterlily



Series: Evelyn and Malcolm Hawke (Series 2) [12]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Character Death, F/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-29
Updated: 2015-07-01
Packaged: 2018-04-06 21:00:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4236435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Willowflower_Waterlily/pseuds/Willowflower_Waterlily
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A surprise attack threatens Evelyn, Malcolm, and their family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Tucking a loose strand of silvery grey hair behind her ear, Evelyn eagerly reads letters her eldest and youngest daughters sent to her from Skyhold. Glancing out the window, she smiles at her husband and two children. They had stopped training for the day, and are eating their lunch of the dock. “People are coming.” Cole’s urgent tone snaps Evelyn out of her thoughts. “Angry, violent, twisted. They won’t stop until they find you.” Fear overwhelming her, Evelyn runs out the door toward Malcolm and the kids. Her husband looks up, confusion etched into his face, until he sees Cole.

“Take the kids, go to Mia’s.” Evelyn tells him in a tone that brooks no argument. Malcolm stares into her eyes for a moment then shakes his head.

“I should stay here with you. The kids can make it to Mia’s with Cole. Or I can stay here and you can take the kids to Mia’s.”

“They’re after me. If I go they’ll follow. It must be you that takes the kids.” When Malcolm opens his mouth to argue, Evelyn glares him into silence. “When you get there, have Cullen and Branson come back with you. I will stall them until you can get back.” Evelyn sees the unspoken question in Malcolm’s eyes. What if she can’t? Pulling Malcolm into a quick embrace, Evelyn avoids looking into his frightened gaze for a moment. “Be safe, my love.”

“I love you, my wife.” Malcolm presses a kiss into her lips before pulling away from her.

“I love you too, my husband.” Evelyn and Malcolm exchange one more glance before he, the kids, and Cole hurry toward the path, leaving Evelyn behind. Once her family disappears into the woods, Evelyn paces halfway between the house and the lake praying they make it to Mia safely.


	2. Chapter 2

The door slams at the front of the house. Mia steps in the sitting room to find Marric doubled over panting. “What wrong, sweetie?” Taking a few steadying breaths he straightens up, and when Marric’s gaze meets hers, Mia’s heart stops. Fear and panic radiate from her youngest son’s eyes.

“There’s a group of twenty heading this way. The looked like they’re Tevinter.” Marric tells her in a rush. “I sneaked up to listen in. They’re looking for Evelyn.”

“Run out back and tell your brothers to come in. Then get to Evelyn as fast as you can to warn her. Maybe with enough time, she and Malcolm can get out with Junior and Solana.” Marric nods before dashing out of the room.

Mia races upstairs to her room to retrieve her weapon. Throwing open her closet, she takes the bow and quiver of arrows off their hooks. It had been a long time since Mia needed to fight someone, but she kept in practice just in case.

Her elder boys meet her at the bottom of the steps, swords already in hand. “You should have gone with Marric, mother.”

“Cullen, there’s about twenty men heading this way. Yes, the two of you are good, but you’re not that good. You’ll need support. Marric said they look Tevinter, which means there will be mages among them, neither of you are Templars.” Mia gives them both a stern look. “My decision is made.”

The group of Tevinters approach Mia and her boys. Mia quickly shoots an arrow landing just in front of the man leading the gang. “You missed.” The man’s tone is smug as he gives her a look of contempt.

“I missed on purpose, that was a warning shot. What do you want from us?” Mia watches the man huff and roll his eyes before stepping over the arrow she fired.

“We’re here for the original Inquisitor. I know she lives here.”

“If you look in all the houses, you’ll see that my boys and I are the only ones that live here.” Mia silently prays that they’ll take the time to look through the houses. The man summons one of the mages with him, giving him an expectant look. The man nods and casts a spell. A strange purple light emanates from him out toward the surrounding houses.

“She’s telling the truth, sir.”

A cautious optimism fills Mia, until she feels the blade against her throat. “We can’t let you three live, in case she’s nearby.” Mia pulls out her belt knife jamming it in the side of the man holding her. When he lets go, she spins to face him. In a fluid motion, she nocks an arrow and shoots the man. Behind her, Mia can hear her sons fighting. Turning, she reaches for another arrow. Aiming for the mage beside the leader, Mia draws the bowstring and releases the arrow, hitting her target in the throat.

“That’s quite enough.” The leader says, waving his hands. Mia feels herself freeze when his spell lands on her. Fear for her boys fills her when she hears them struggling nearby. “Now tell me, woman, what is your name?”

“Mia Rutherford and my sons are named Cullen and Branson.” She answers, trying to school her nearly completely frozen face into a look of defiance. He laughs at her, drawing a dagger. The look he gives her would make her shudder if she wasn’t frozen in place. With his other hand, the man reaches into his pocket, pulling out a crimson stone.

“Your blood will be put to good use, as will your sons’.” Mia gasps as he stabs her. She watches as the rock lights up, her blood floating toward it. The man releases his spell on her, and she falls onto her back. Mia’s vision becomes blurry. The pain she feels begins to fade as she watches her blood being siphoned into the stone.


	3. Chapter 3

Malcolm’s blood runs cold when Marric tells him the group he spotted looked Tevinter. His mind goes back to seven years before when he faced a small group looking for Evelyn. “How many are there?” Malcolm takes a few deep breaths, trying to calm his racing heart.

“About twenty, it looked like there are a mix of melee and mages.” Malcolm plans quickly. Run to Mia’s and get the boys. Junior and Solana would be safest there. Hopefully, Mia and her elder boys are…

“They’re not,” Cole’s voice breaks through Malcolm’s thoughts. He gives the spirit a questioning look. Cole shakes his head, sadness clouding his features. Malcolm glances over at Marric, who’s clenching his fists, his shoulders shaking. Malcolm sets his hand on the young man’s shoulder, his heart breaking for him. Malcolm knows better than most what it’s like to lose your whole family, to be left alone in the world.

Knowing his friend and two of her sons are dead did not prepare him for when it came time to see their corpses on the ground. Malcolm kneels beside Mia’s body and gently closes her eyes. Behind him, Malcolm hears a sob escape from Marric’s throat. When he turns to help the young man, he sees that Junior is there already. Junior embraces his boyfriend, letting him cry on his shoulder. Malcolm and Cole carefully, but quickly move the three bodies into the house they once lived in.

“Stay hidden, in the house. I doubt they’ll come back this way.” Malcolm holds up his hand when it looks like Junior is going to protest being left behind. “Marric needs you, stay here with him and your sister.” His son nods, slipping his finger between Marric’s. “Cole…”

“I’m ready.” Cole stands by the door, his daggers in hand.

A group of Tevinters attacks Malcolm and Cole on the path back. Malcolm counts eleven of them, and notices there are no mages among them. The battle feels like it’s dragging on longer than it should as Malcolm and Cole weave between the Tevinters, fighting like humanoid dervishes. Malcolm finds it harder to push aside the fear building in his stomach for Evelyn and for the children. Please, Maker, let me get to her in time. Ignoring the pain from injuries he sustained, he and Cole fight on until all of the Tevinters lay on the ground dead.

“You’re injured. We need to bandage your wounds.” Cole reaches for his pack, but Malcolm stops him.

“There’s not enough time, I need to get to Evelyn.” Malcolm runs down the trail, leaving the spirit behind.


	4. Chapter 4

Evelyn watches the small group of Tevinters appear from the woods to the left side of the house. She quickly prays that they didn’t notice the path. Four of them make a box around her and the fifth approaches. “So finally we meet, Inquisitor.”

“Though I don’t go by that title anymore,” Evelyn chuckles humorlessly at the man. “You seem to have me at a disadvantage, your name is?”

“Mallius Titus, of Minrathous,” he mock bows to her, a fake smile on his lips. “You might be wondering why we’re here, after all these years.”

“Why yes, I was wondering exactly that.” Evelyn replies, hoping she’ll give enough time for Malcolm to get Cullen and Branson and run back.

“The ritual took years to research and find the materials for.” Mallius holds a blood red stone out to show her. “Then we had to find you, which was no easy task, but when some of our men failed to return seven years ago, we knew that this is where you had to be.”

Evelyn’s stomach clenches as the realization dawns on her. They would have found her no matter what. Her family has always been in danger because of her. “But why have you been planning this ritual?”

“That’s simple, for revenge. You took the only chance of Tevinter being restored to its former glory from us, so we will take all you’ve ever loved from you. It’s only fitting that it happens in the Hinterlands, where it all began.” Mallius toys with the gem, a dark glint in his eyes. “The three who were sacrificed for this had put up quite the fight. They thought we wouldn’t find you.”

Evelyn locks her legs to keep herself from falling down, her stomach dropping to her feet. “Who did you murder?”

“A woman and her two boys, she told me their names, but…” Mallius shrugs at her, as though the lives of Mia, Cullen, and Branson meant nothing. An ache like she had never felt before consumes her heart. It’s all her fault Mia and two of her boys are dead, that Marric is left all alone. Evelyn insisted that Mia and the boys move into the town, that it would be safer if they were closer together. “They would have died anyways. Shall we begin?”

The mages around her start chanting in Tevene. Evelyn pulls out her pocket knife and throws it at Mallius, only for it to be deflected by a barrier. “Tsk, tsk, Inquisitor,” he gives her a mock look of scolding. “Once the ritual is started, it cannot be stopped. Our barriers are too powerful for anyone to get through.”

Evelyn looks down at her left hand, trying not to grimace. It had been over a decade since she used the anchor last. Could it stop the ritual? What would it do to her if she uses it? She flexes her hand several times, trying to will herself to do what she needs to.

Malcolm stumbles down the trail back home, trying to ignore the pain jolting through his body. He only has one goal in mind, to get back to Evelyn. He had promised her forever, and it’s a promise he fully intends to keep. Reaching the hill above the lake, Malcolm sees Evelyn holding her hand out in front of her. "No, please don't." He tries to call out, but his voice is barely above a whisper. Frozen in place, Malcolm tries to force himself to move forward.

Evelyn raises her hand above her head ignoring both the amused look on Mallius’s face, and Malcolm standing on top of the hill watching from the path. Mentally, she pleads for him to not come any closer. Someone needs to be there for the children. Evelyn is certain that she will not make it out of this alive, either the mark or the rift will most likely kill her. Tears roll down her cheeks as her chin quivers. She wanted forever with Malcolm, but was only going to have twenty-two years. Memories flash before her mind’s eye of their life together. Taking a deep breath, she puts her emotions aside. Determination takes the place of pain and fear. She has to save them all one more time.

"I'm sorry, my love." Cole's voice reaches Malcolm's ears seconds before he sees Evelyn open a rift. The green light burns into his memory. In a heartbeat, everyone under the rift, including Evelyn vanishes. Malcolm's legs give out under him, and he falls onto his hands and knees. Tears blur his eyesight, a hollow space forming in his chest where his heart had been. It vanished with the sickly green light. Malcolm's body begins to go numb, the pain he feels fading as he falls into unconsciousness.


End file.
